(S1) Episode 4: The Fear Virus
by J. David Reed
Summary: Without Clara, the Doctor hunts down a foe that has known much more about him than he knows about it. Without much to go on, he stumbles into a terrible version of Earth II that might be linked to everything in some way, but how long does he have, and can he save a whole planet with himself standing in the way? Cont. from Episode 3
1. Chapter 1: Earth II

Clara seemed to be doing well. She couldn't remember her wound at all, and the Doctor was thankful she wasn't aware of being shot and close to killed. He was thankful that Seripho had kept to his promise of letting her live, no matter what. He had reduced her to a plot device, however - Clara had been used to force the Doctor somewhere. He didn't appreciate that.

They hunted Seripho, and his mysterious employer, wondering where they would next run into a scheme involving them.

Clara had gone home and come back a few times - she liked to see the kids who missed her without fail. The Doctor never met them, though. Not yet, at least. He was dangerous.

Sometimes he hunted alone, trying to find a link, a mention anywhere, Seripho was no one.

He looked to his race - a people near to human in origin. They weren't dying out, but weren't taking over planets either. They were just getting along nicely. No last-of-the-species angst, then.

As for Broadplow Institute and what happened, there was no record. As far as anyone knew, Adam went mad one day and started creating imaginary monsters out of nanogenes for no apparent reason. The Doctor knew he was working for Seripho, harvesting emotions, but why, or to what end, he didn't know.

The Garden, on the other hand, was a bit easier. He knew that Adam was harvesting emotions, and The Garden had been employed to harvest people. On close inspection, he'd found that the trees were, on some level, giving out an electronic signal or their genetic make-up, the physiology. It wasn't traceable, however, as it only went to the little black box the Doctor had met, up in the observation deck.

So now the Doctor travelled, alone for the moment, hoping that Seripho would appear, giving the Doctor another lease of knowledge into this whole extravagant plot.

The Doctor was fascinated.

Eventually he started just travelling, not much thinking about Seripho. He was here to enjoy himself, after all. He saved those he ran into in need, but his primary incentive was, above all, fun!

Today he was taking the TARDIS off to a little planet he'd never took the time to enjoy enough - Earth II. The prototype of 'New Earth', in a way.

After Earth burns, of course, the human race decided it needed a new base of operations. They began the terraformation of a similar planet, only a few thousand light-years away, into Earth II.

Earth II was kind of an ethical slur on the face of human politics - not everybody thought it was okay just to go to a new planet, pronounce it as yours, and carry on as normal. Therefore the Doctor had kind of stayed away.

Besides, it only lasted a life of six hundred years until colonies just started going to other planets and constellations and moons and anywhere but here. The human race moved in, stopped the night, and moved out, essentially.

As he landed the TARDIS, he knew there was an issue already.

The TARDIS had made an unhappy bong noise. It was a very distressing bong noise.

He exited the TARDIS cautiously, but was met with nothing. Nothing but a quiet, open, empty road.

The houses were still cramped together, just like back on Earth. The sky was blue, the rain just starting to fall. Everything was very well copied. Carbon copied, almost.

Not knowing where to start, he started to drift down the road.

'Hello?' he called out, completely unaware of where he was going, or when someone would appear, fine as day, going about their normal business. He really hoped people still went about their normal business.

Technology was as advanced as anywhere else in the universe by now, so he couldn't understand why there was no one.

Until he heard the scream.

It was a child's scream. A young child, screaming like that, dead ahead. The Doctor bolted, screwdriver at the ready, towards the source of the sound.

Another scream gave away which house it was coming from. The Doctor burst in through the front door, and quickly saw the small boy, huddled in the corner, in a ball.

'Hello?' the Doctor said, as soft as he could. 'I'm the Doctor. Are you alright?'

The boy whimpered and made a slight growl.

The Doctor approached, trying to identify a cause for the boy's apparent pain. 'What's your name?' he asked.

The boy growled again, still hiding his face.

The Doctor was close enough to touch him now, and reached out a hand, just to place on the boy's shoulder. Give some comfort.

The boy grabbed the Doctor's hand as it came close, pulled him in and screamed in the Doctor's face. The boy's face, twisted and snarling, resembled a wolf's - carnivorous and hungry.

Pulling back as hard as he could, the Doctor recoiled, stepping away. The boy stood, his legs much longer than they should be at his age - he was maybe seven, but at least six foot tall. Then he was seven foot tall. He was growing.

Not just upwards, either. His chest expanded. He wasn't a little boy anymore - he was a monster. Hair grew everywhere, his hands sprouted claws and his clothes tore off him.

'Werewolf!' the Doctor whined, running away as fast as he could, out of the house, down the road and towards his TARDIS.

The boy - now the wolf - chased after him, crashing through the doorway that was far too small for him like it was nothing. It cascaded down the road at the Doctor like an avalanche, tumbling at him without avail.

When the Doctor had neared his TARDIS, the wolf caught up to him, taking him by the legs and holding him upside down.

'Help me?' the wolf pleaded, it's voice gruff and completely juxtaposing the soft tone that it carried. 'Please?'

'Erm,' the Doctor was a little lost for words. 'Of course. I'm the Doctor!'

'Oh,' the wolf put him down. 'Okay.'

'What happened to you?' the Doctor asked.

'Same as everyone...' the wolf cringed. It looked like it was in pain, grabbing it's chest and whining. Howling.

The Doctor dropped to the floor, scrambling up as the wolf tore into itself. As quick as the burst of anger had come, it left. The wolf fell quiet.

It dropped to the floor.

The Doctor stood in the open, wide road of this faux-Earth, watching as a terrified wolf stopped breathing.


	2. Chapter 2: Warzone

A little startled by the events that had just taken place, the Doctor wasn't sure what to do next. Was that werewolf the reason this place was deserted? It was only a child... a little boy.

What the hell just happened?

He scanned the enormous body - no life signs. It registered as human, but this little boy looked nothing like a little human boy any more.

Genetic mutation?

Wolf-host?

Genuine werewolf species?

Probably none of the above, knowing his luck.

The Doctor scanned the surrounding area - there were a few life signs, but they were mainly pets. Dogs, cats, fish, lobsters (as was the trend). No humans. Maybe this boy-wolf really had chased everyone away.

He decided that being out in the open wasn't the smartest of decisions, if there were werewolves and transforming children dotted around.

Backing into the TARDIS, the Doctor took himself to three months earlier, and stuck himself in the neighbouring large city, atop the roof of a building.

Stepping out into the soft wind and warm air, the Doctor viewed the cityscape as a war-zone.

'This isn't right,' he said, unsure of how he should proceed.

The city he could see resembled London, but it's tall buildings were taller, shinier and more impressive. Some of it was still mid-construction, however. As though they'd only got half way through it when whatever was going on started - fire burned through the landscape, the half-built buildings were charred and crumpled, and sounds of bullets and roars could be heard from miles away.

The place was unholy. Apocalyptic.

'Who are you?' came a voice, accusingly, from behind him. The Doctor turned on his heel to see a young man, maybe twenty or so, with a large gus in both hands focused on the Doctor.

'I'm the Doctor.'

'Medical class?' the boy asked. 'You shouldn't be up here. Dangerous.'

'No, no. I'm a special kind of Doctor. Blue box, timey wimey kind of Doctor.'

'What?' the boy moved forwards, nodding with his gun. 'Show me your hands.' The Doctor held up his hands, smiling. 'And your teeth.' The Doctor bared his teeth. 'Human.'

'Wrong!'

'What?!' the boy looked like he was going to pull the trigger.

'Not human. Time-Lord. Very similar, though. Same faces. You got that from our side.'

'What's your name?'

'The Doctor.'

'Doctor what?'

'Just the Doctor,' he smiled. 'What's yours?'

'Miles. Cadet Killen Miles.'

'Right. Killen Miles,' the Doctor nodded to the burning cityscape. 'What exactly is going on?'

'What do you mean?'

'End of the world, am I right?' he sighed. 'Always is.'

'People are changing,' Miles said. 'Have been for weeks, where have you been, under a rock?'

'Bit of a hermit, actually. Changing? Changing how?'

'Into nightmares,' Miles said, dropping his gun slightly. 'Everything you've ever been scared of, people are turning into them.'

'Right...' the Doctor's smile died. 'But you're still pointing the gun at me?'

'Well, yeah,' Miles said. 'No idea who you are. Could be anyone. Could be about to change.'

'I'm not.'

'How do I know?'

'I'm not human.'

'Not just humans changing. Everything, everyone. It's everywhere.'

'What's doing it?'

'We don't know how, or why but...' Miles pointed with his gun to a building across from the one they were on. On the side was a spray-painted black Z shape. 'People are calling it the Zorro curse.'

'Are they?'

'Whenever it moves to a new city, that insignia turns up. Everywhere. Sometimes it's even on people, when they change. We shoot them, and we look and the have a black Z on their arm or something. No one can explain it. No one has had the chance.'

'What do you mean?'

'Well, I'm not exactly high-up, but from what I can put together, the curse is moving to places where there are scientists. Getting rid of everyone who might be able to figure out what this whole thing is.'

'It's global?'

'Might as well be,' Miles said. 'Seeing as you're not violent, I'm going to have to put you into custody.'

'Right. Just a sec,' the Doctor locked the TARDIS with a click of his fingers. 'Love doing that. Now, where to?'

'Down here,' Miles said, pointing at the stairway that led down into the building beneath them. 'You know where you are, right?'

'Not really.'

'You're standing on top of the last known uncontaminated hospital in the city.'

'Uncontaminated?'

'There's a theory, that this whole thing is a virus,' Miles explained as he led the Doctor down into the dimply-lit concrete stairwell. 'That it's infecting people. Nobody understands how, or what the motivation is behind it or why there would be a virus that does this but, it's as good as any other ideas we have. By which I mean nobody has any real idea what it is.'

'Do all of the creatures die?'

'They are people, Doctor.'

'Maybe not.'

'What do you mean?'

'Well, there have been cases I've seen where people are literally swapped for monsters, letting them get inside homes, into public places. Maybe that's this.'

'Doesn't sound right. This happens gradually.'

'Is there a running theme, or species, or something?'

'Yeah, actually, there is,' Miles said a they moved from the stairway into an open, clean room, where people in the same uniform as Miles stood, guarding patients. The sounds of a war-hospital surrounded them immediately, intruding the quiet that had dominated the roof and the stairs. This was the thick of it.

'Nightmares,' Miles finished.


	3. Chapter 3: The Three Doctors

'Nightmares?' the Doctor asked as they walked into the sick bay. Everywhere was strewn with bloodied civilians, presumably the victims of monsters roaming the streets.

'Every time it's something different,' Miles told him. 'Even when it's the same monster, it's different rules. You get three zombies, two can run and one is barely shuffling. Of the two that can run, one is saying 'brains', the other isn't.'

'That makes no sense,' the Doctor thought, trying to decipher a pattern.

'There are common ones,' Miles continued. 'Like zombies, or vampires. Good, ol'-fashioned monsters. Then there are aliens, like the Daleks, the Cybermen, anything that has invaded us at some point in history.'

'So it's fears,' the Doctor said.

'We have no way of fighting something that is not only always changing, but it's spreading, too.'

'Plus they're people to start with,' the Doctor reminded him. 'How does it spread?'

'We don't know.'

'All you know is that it's spreading, and that it's turning people into their own worst fear?'

'That's the theory, yeah.' Miles paused just before they reached the heavily guarded glass doors, one of which was smashed. 'By the way,' he said. 'What's your name?'

'The Doctor.'

'No, but really. 'Doctor' is just a title, you must have a real name.'

'Not me!' the Doctor smiled.

'And you think you can help?'

'I can try. I do this a lot, actually.'

'What's your expertise?' Miles offered him a gun he had on his belt - one of four.

'Anything without those,' the Doctor grimaced, looking disappointed at Miles.

'So, you're a tech-guy, then?'

'I could do tech, yeah.'

'Bit of a thinker?'

'I like to think so!' the Doctor smiled, as though expecting appreciation.

Miles smiled and patted the Doctor on the shoulder. 'Then we can use you. We can use all the help we can get.'

'Right, well. Put me in a room with the cleverest people you have.'

'Wait-' someone with a deep, harrowing voice boomed from behind them. Miles and the Doctor turned to see one of Miles' superior officers standing, looking terrified, gun aimed at the Doctor's left eyeball. 'How did you get out?'

'Out?' the Doctor asked, frowning at the gun, not showing much fear (not that he didn't feel it). 'Out of where?'

'I'll show you.' The officer pulled the trigger. Darkness.

...

The Doctor shot up, his head spinning. It soon resided, and he touched the tiny scab in-between his eyebrows - a puncture wound. He had been tranquilised.

The room was squalid, damp and miserable. A single glass window stood between him and Miles, as well as the officer who had shot him.

'That really hurt, you know,' the Doctor said.

'Yes, well. You're not the first Doctor I've shot.'

'Am I not...' the Doctor looked around. He wasn't able to move much, for the chains holding his ankles and wrists, but he could see, even in the dark, two others in the room.

Not just anyone else, either.

There were two other Doctors. Two version of him, sat limp and still.

'They were screaming the last time we had them both awake,' the man said. 'Wonder what they'll do now you're here.'

'But that's me!' the Doctor said, trying to point.

'And you're them.'

'No, no no no. They are me. I am the Doctor, they are fakes... they must be...'

'Fakes?'

'Well, this virus or pandemic you have going on, it changes people, ordinary humans, into whatever they fear most.'

'If you are these people's greatest fear, then I suppose it's a good idea to keep you in there anyway.'

The nameless officer walked away, leaving Miles standing, watching him.

'I didn't know,' Miles said.

'Didn't know they had copies of me on lock-down?'

'I didn't know what the copies had done.' His voice was being twisted by the intercom, but the Doctor could still hear his voice crack.

The Doctor watched the other two, silhouettes in the dark. When would they wake? What would they do, how would they react? Was he really their greatest fear?

'What did they do?'

'They gave themselves in.'

'Gave themselves in?'

'Both of them. They told an officer that they had changed, that they were no longer who they were, that they had been taken by the virus, but also that they were in full mental-working order. And they locked them both down. It wasn't until they saw each other that they freaked, started screaming. Officer Wayy just told me that they had to tranq them, same as you. Same dose, too.'

'So they can think?'

'Not when they see each other,'

'So why are they together?'

'We only have one cell,' Miles shrugged. 'If you haven't noticed, it's kind of an emergency situation.'

A shuffle from the Doctor to the left caused both Miles and the Doctor to flinch, unsure of how this was going to play out.

'Okay, Miles?'

'Yes, Doctor?'

'I need you to get me out.'

'I don't have clearance.'

'Then get someone who does, because I'm not a fake, I'm not a monster, I'm not a copy.'

'I don't have clearance-'

'Wha... one the 'fake' Doctor who had shuffled was starting to awake, groggy and slow.

'Go get someone,' the Doctor ordered. Miles left, leaving the Doctor, alone in a room with these two questionable companions.

'Hello,' the Doctor said, staying as calm as he could seem. 'I'm the...'

'Doctor,' finished the fake. 'I know. Me too.'

The fake Doctor started to laugh, looking up to the Doctor, but he stopped dead as their eyes met. 'You're really him... Oh God... Oh GOD!'

The fake started to scream, an ear-ripping scream that made the Doctor wish he could cover his ears. His hands trapped behind him, he was only able to squirm, yelling too.

Thank God they were tied down, too, or who knows how they would have dealt with him.


	4. Chapter 4: The Face of the Devil

The screams coming from his own voice across the room made the Doctor convince himself he was going mad. How could there be another version of him?

Maybe if the screams would stop he could think straight, but right now... now the howls of terror in this tiny room pulled any clear thinking directly from him, replacing it with confused and bitter madness.

The other 'fake' Doctor had started to rouse, blinking awake. He took one look at the fake Doctor, screaming, and then to him. He knew in an instant that it was the real Doctor who had joined them, and did nothing but stare in silence.

The contradiction was baffling.

Miles eventually returned with Officer Wayy, who took one look at the situation and burst in. The screaming Doctor didn't flinch, didn't seem to notice. The silent one's gaze didn't falter from the Doctor at all. Wayy went largely unnoticed until he injected both the 'fake' Doctors with some kind of serum that forced them to fall asleep.

'Why are they here?' the Doctor asked, popping his ears, loving the relief of silence.

'They are the only two to have changed and not died.'

'Not died?'

'Most conversions, people who have changed into their worst fears, die after a day. Two, at most. We've had these two for longer and, well. There's no change.'

'That's the most special thing about them?'

'And that they are exactly the same.'

'What do you mean?'

Miles stepped in. 'Well, usually, Doctor,' he began, with a silent kind-of dispute from Wayy for interrupting him. 'Usually people have similar fears, like vampires. But they differ from vampire to vampire: some have their canines pointed, some have the teeth in front. Some have all of their teeth pointed. Some are in leather, some have long black capes. But these two are completely identical.'

The Doctor looked at them, both silent in sleep, and tried to think. Who could be that scared of him? Who was so fearful that every other nightmare, every other alien and monster in the universe was trumped by him. Who feared him that much?

He could think of creatures that hated him, easily. The Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans, Weeping Angels, a million others. But actual fear, that's a different case. What had he ever done that could warrant fear on this level - or at least, what had he done that had left survivors?

He snapped out of those thoughts. Those were the thoughts that haunted him at night, but they wouldn't do much good here. They weren't the real problem. In fact, they might be the solution.

'I need to talk to them,' the Doctor said.

'But every time you try-' Miles was cut off.

'They scream, yes. So get them both, tied behind a desk. Cover their mouths.'

'Who put you in charge?' Wayy asked, crossing his arms.

'I just did. My name's the Doctor. Apparently, I'm scary. Maybe you don't want to find out why.'

Miles moved away instantly, going off to find a room they could use for the three Doctors. Wayy seemed insulted by the Doctor, and a little worried.

'We'll have it sorted,' Wayy told him.

'Right. Good.' The Doctor shook his head. He was feeling strained, and he knew he had overreacted far past what he should have. Did he just threaten them?

Soon, the Doctor was moved into a room only a small way away, down a wooden-floor corridor which was in desperate need of a paint job. The room itself stank of mould, and he waited patiently as they tied him to his chair, which was nailed to the floor, and moved the other two in, cuffing them to their chairs on the other side, facing him.

He was sat for maybe half an hour, waiting for them to wake, in which he thought about how this was happening. The most popular theory was a disease, something that can spread fast. Makes sense. Changes you into your own worst nightmare, that makes less sense. And then you die within two days - unless you change into the Doctor. That makes almost no sense at all. Why him? Why these two? Why do they survive?

Once they had both awoken, and were screaming behind their bonds, the Doctor began to talk.

'You both know me,' he said. 'But you know the wrong me.'

They seemed to stop screaming, but were no less scared than they were. Their eyes were howling.

'If I take off those gags, will you scream?' he asked.

One of them didn't respond, the other shook his head. Both their eyes were dark now, but they still looked as though they were looking for a way out. Their faces and states kept changing, the Doctor concluded. They were insane.

He looked to Miles, who was stood by the door, guarding them. He moved and removed the gags from both the Doctors sitting across from him.

'Right then,' the Doctor said. He didn't know where to go first. He'd start with a general question. 'Do you know where you are?'

'No,' one answered. The other didn't respond - the same one who stayed silent last time.

'Neither do I. Miles?'

Miles stepped forwards again. 'You are in the lock-down section of the Pyrman facility - New London.' He thought before adding. 'Earth Two.'

'Earth Two,' the Doctor echoed. 'Do you know what Earth Two is?'

'It's a scheme,' said the Doctor who was talking. 'A plan made up by the Pyrman Corporation.' His voice was dizzyingly familiar to the Doctor, but held more malice than he was used to. 'When the sun started to expand, there was a corporate war. 'How do we bottle-up and sell this', you know? One company moved them to a 'Starship UK', or something. And New Earth. And Earth Two.'

'Only humans could privatise the apocalypse,' the silent Doctor said, with a dark smile.

'But you didn't know you were here?'

'Didn't know where the hell I was,' the first Doctor continued. 'One minute, I was at home, back on Starship UK. Then it goes very, very dark. And now I'm here.'

'Where did you wake up?'

'On the street, being handled by an officer. They asked me if this was my face, and showed me a mirror. I saw the face of the devil, wearing my emotions, and I freaked. I don't think I stopped screaming until you made me.'

'So I'm the devil?' the Doctor smiled, but he was by no means happy. He was mortified. Not surprised though.

'For my people, yes.'

'Human?'

'No.'

'Then why were you on Starship UK?'

'Earth wasn't home just to humans, Doctor. We were a minority, but we were there.'

'What was your race?'

'How can you do it?'

'What was your race?'

'Destroy so many lives, leave an entire species in pain-'

'What was it?'

'-And not even remember. You had different face, but we watched you. We came to Earth once the politics was settled, all to watch you.'

'Who are you?!'

'I,' the 'fake' Doctor said, 'Was a Sycorax.'


	5. Chapter 5: Pyrman Corp

'A Sycorax?'

'Aye.'

'As in, like, big skull-y heads, staffs and sword,s flying islands?'

'That was the old days, Doctor. The days you murdered.'

'Christmas Day. I stopped the invasion of Earth, and you were leaving...'

'You gave the command for our slaughter,' the Sycorax Doctor spat. 'You stood as our high Priest was destroyed, the ship. Fathers and Mothers. Sycorax heroes.'

'I tried to stop it-'

'Don't you lie, Doctor. You could have saved them.'

'I tried. I'm so sorry.'

'You didn't grieve. You didn't mourn those deaths. You sauntered off, into the cosmos. What disgust you must feel within you.'

The three Doctors sat, all tied to this table. The Doctor watched his copies. The Sycorax, silently fuming at him, and the silent one, who seemingly enjoyed the angst and anger.

'Do you think about the families of your adversaries?' the Sycorax Doctor asked, now more pained than angry. 'This is why I fear you. You murdered everything I know. You are my devil, Doctor.'

The other Doctor started to laugh. He threw his head back, choking on laughter, to the faces of the other two.

'Did you know,' the laughing Doctor said. 'That the Sycorax, after the events of your human Christmas, never recovered and-' he started laughing too much to talk. His chuckles juxtaposed the dank room so oddly that the Doctor found the noise almost hypnotic. It was entrancing. 'They,' he coughed, gathering his words. 'They couldn't restart their economy, their warfare started to drop in quality, so they were invaded. The whole place went down the drain!' He sang the last phrase, bobbing his head.

The Sycorax Doctor looked like he could throw up.

'What are you then? Not human, I assume,' the Doctor asked.

'Of course not, Doc.' He smiled. 'I'm a companion of yours. Not gonna say who.'

'A companion?'

'I travelled with you. Happily. Then I realised, through all the pain and excitement, that everything we did had consequences, Doctor.'

'Consequences?' The Doctor was having flashbacks to Seripho. Was this one of his lessons?

'You were so caring for those you liked, but the ones you didn't? God help them. And after a while, I guess you get bored. Leave us like dogs. Panting on the street. You break our lives, make yourself everything we care about. And then it's over. What did you expect?'

'What did I look like?'

'You mean did I travel with another regeneration? No. It was you. You, all you.'

'What was your name?'

'I can't tell you that.'

'And why not?'

'Because of paradoxes. I tell you my name, you'll go off looking for me. That's not how it happens. I save your ass and nd you repay me in fear. You are my worst nightmare, Doctor, because you have already killed me.'

The Doctor sat back, looking into these two people's eyes. One had been of an alien race, intending to watch and report on the Doctor whenever he showed his devilish face. The other was one of his friends who he'd hurt, and had turned against him. What was the chance that they were both here, on this planet?

'How did you get here?' he asked them both. 'Either of you. How did you get to this planet?'

'I was given an invite,' the Sycorax Doctor said. 'I'm a politician back home, and I was invited as an ambassador to this planet, one of the Human Race's new colony planets.'

'Who invited you?'

'Pyrman Corp, the funding corporation behind this planet.'

'What about you?' he asked the laughing Doctor.

'I was sent an invitation too. Pyrman Corp.'

'You have the invites? How were you invited here?'

'Digislip,' they both said. They looked at each other.

'Give me them.' the Doctor ordered. They hesitated for a moment, but both Doctors retrieved a small, metal slip with a round pressure pad on them. The DOctor scanned both digislips, squinting.

'What do you expect to find?' the Sycorax Doctor asked.

'They're fakes,' the Doctor mumbled. 'Someone else brought you here. But why? For me? Why would they do this on the off-chance I was coming?'

'Why would who?' one asked.

'What if they knew you were coming,' the other suggested. They were actually being helpful.

'Seripho and gang, probably. No idea, really. And if it is him, then he seems to know something I don't. He has a way of tracking me. He knows where I am, when I am. It's him.'

'You're certain.'

'Almost.'

The two other Doctors leaned in, and they both seemed to realise they were helping their worst nightmare at the same time, and sat back.

'If Seripho is here, and he brought you here with the intention of you meeting me, as me, then he definitely is the source of this virus. Killed a whole world just to prove a point.'

'To you,' the Sycorax Doctor said.

'And you wonder why you terrify us,' the other Doctor said.

'You go places.'

'Make friends.'

'Make enemies.'

'And you destroy worlds.'

'You cause revolutions.'

'Murder leaders.'

'Ruin allies.'

'Changes time.'

'Scar space.'

'You are the real plague, Doctor.'

'You are our nightmare. You scare the Universe into a coalition against you.'

'Doctor?' Miles stood by the door still, watching. 'Wayy is signalling to me, your time's up.'

Miles walked over and released the Doctor first, walking him out of the room.

The Doctor caught one last look from the two Doctors in the room. Their eyes followed him until he was out of sight. They still looked like him.

He was still a monster.


	6. Chapter 6: Looks like a Pickle

'What the hell was that in there?' Wayy huffed, demanding a quick answer.

'What, are you upset that I found a good few answers in one interview? Took me, what, ten minutes?'

'You found nothing. You've wasted our time, Doctor.' He turned to Miles. 'Put him back in holding.'

'But-' Miles tried to fight, but Wayy's face said he wasn't ready to be contested.

'I found a lot, Wayy,' the Doctor said. 'I discovered that Pyrman Corp is inviting people to this planet with the intention of making them into me. I also figure that it's being headed by someone with whom I have previous.'

'Previous?'

'Seripho. A hired gun, yes, but a clever one. He knows how to get what he wants. He was farming bodies at the Garden, farming emotions at Broadplow Institute. He's attacked people I know in the past, and knows an awful lot about me. It would be easy for him to come here, knowing I would turn up, and set up a trap like this.'

'Are you selfish enough to think that this whole thing is for you?'

'I'm the Doctor, mister Wayy. Some people think that's more important than it is. I know that. I personally don't see why they bother - I'm not special. But I'm wanted.'

'If it turns out that there is someone in Pyrman Corp out to get you, and is destroying a whole world just to get to you, then you will be held responsible, Doctor.'

The Doctor gives a solemn nod as Miles leads him away.

'I'm sorry,' the Doctor said to him, turning so they were face-to-face.

'What for?'

'This,' the Doctor spins, hitting Miles square in the temple. He drops, hitting the floor like a brick. The Doctor slipped out of the handcuffs - he'd unlocked them a while ago - and ran off down the corridor, knowing he had to get away.

He headed for the roof, having to avoid anyone in a black suit with extreme caution. It was surprisingly easy to make it back up, and so see the TARDIS, cordoned off with tape, just waiting for him.

He took a moment to appreciate the fact that the armed forces still used yellow tape to ward off people

Tearing it off, the Doctor leapt inside and started flicking switches and pushing buttons, not to travel, but to record a message.

Once everything was set, he pulled the monitor around so he knew that his face as being broadcast everywhere.

'This is the Doctor,' he said, smiling. 'An open letter, directed at Mister Seripho. Now, I'm not entirely sure what you're planning here on Earth II, but I want you to know that I'm going to stop it. If you think that mass murder is going to get by anyone, I suggest you look me up. I'm always there, Seripho. I always stop the bad guy. And I'll stop you.'

He pushed the button, stopping the dispersion of the message. He had broadcast his face everywhere now, Seripho was bound to hear it. He was listening in, surely.

He was about to set coordinates for the street when the TARDIS door was knocked upon.

'Doctor!'

It was Miles.

'Doctor, you need to come out. Wayy is convinced that you have something to do with this virus, he want's to put you into custody and have you executed!'

The Doctor nodded. Understandable decision. And he appreciated the fact that Miles had come to tell him that.

But he had no intention of going back into custody. He had to find out what was going on at Pyrman Corp.

He bounced over to the doors, opening them just a crack.

'Miles?' he hissed through the door. 'You there?'

'Uh, yeah?'

'Alone?'

'Yeah.'

The Doctor coughed, straightened up, and opened the door wide. Miles looked like he was going to hit him for a moment, but then looked inside. His eyes widened. The Doctor had missed that reaction.

'Wow,' Miles said. 'That is impressive.'

'I know!' the Doctor said, thankfully.

'What is it, temporal displacement?'

'Of a sort.'

'Separate dimension...'

'Go on.'

'Allowing there to be a larger space within the smaller... it's bigger on the inside.'

'Yes!' the Doctor beamed.

Miles lifted an eyebrow, and the Doctor jumped back to his initial intention.

'Right, so, there's something going on at Pyrman Corp.'

'That Seripho person you were on about. War-Lord?'

'Maybe. Maybe just a hired gun. Maybe a right-hand man. Not really sure. I know he knows more than me, and that's scary.'

'So what does this thing do? I mean, it's just a box.'

'TARDIS, it's called. Travels with me, through all of time and space. Wanna see it drop me in the heart of Pyrman Corp's laboratory?'

'How can it?'

'Give it a minute...' the Doctor held up his screwdriver and...

Nothing.

He seemed disappointed the longer it didn't do anything. He frowned at it.

'Should be taking this long...' he tapped it, hitting it against the side of his hand. 'Bloody thing, can't even do wood...'

It beeped, flashing green twice. The Doctor grinned at Miles, and then pushed the stem upwards.

A crackle of sound.

'Dear Doctor,' Seripho's voice boomed around the TARDIS, as though he was there with them. 'I got your message and I have to say... bravo. Touching. And terrifying. I'm shaking, of course. Can't help it. Anyway, this was never about you. Okay, so it was a little about you. We invited a few of your biggest fans over to the planet so you'd turn up. It was the perfect incentive we had - you just love a good mystery. Alas, the secret is that we don't actually care about you that much. Our point was made to you, mostly. If you want to see what the next stage of this whole thing it, I suggest you come to Pyrman Corp, the building on your left, the big one. Looks like a pickle.

There you'll find out what's been going on. It's been too fun, though, right?!'

The crackle burst again, making Miles jump.

Silence.


	7. Chapter 7: Blood and Gore and Bone

The TARDIS fell quiet.

'That was Seripho?' Miles asked after a moment.

'Yeah...' the Doctor said quietly, thinking. His eyes shot to Miles. 'I need back-up.'

'Back-up?'

'Yes, yes. Back-up. Seripho targetted me, but he didn't realise what it was doing. He was trying to sho me I'm a monster, and it worked. I scare people.'

'And you want to show him why,' Miles finished.

The Doctor nodded. 'I need the other two.'

'The other two... What, you mean the two versions of you?'

'The Sycorax and my companion. I need them to see why I do what I do. That sacrifices are needed, yes, but that, after all, we stop the terror. We can stop the virus. We can stop Seripho, together.'

'Okay... how do we do that?'

'Where did Wayy take the two Doctors after I was done with them?'

'I assume to their holding cell. They share it.'

'Okay. Close the doors,' he ordered. He stopped for a second, feeling something in him. He felt anger. Bubbling under him, like a pressure, pushing him over the edge. Slowly but surely.

Miles closed the TARDIS doors, and the Doctor started whirring controls and pulling levers, dragging the TARDIS off the rooftop and into the cell the two Doctor were being kept in.

They both recoiled as the TARDIS materialized into their cell, looking over them, staring.

The Doctor emerged from it. 'I need your help.'

'Our help?' one said.

'All three of us, we need to stop the person who changed you into this. Into me. We can stop it, maybe even reverse it. But I need you.'

One of the Doctors lifted his hands, showing the Doctor his cuffs. The Doctor soniced them, setting him free.

'Can I count on you two?' he asked, looking at them. He freed the second Doctor, and they stood to meet him.

'Can you turns us back?'

'I can't promise it, but I can definitely stop it happening from anyone else.'

'You have a plan?' Miles asked, from within the TARDIS.

'Never! I have a direction and TARDIS, three big heads and my own, and, frankly, nothing to lose.'

The Doctor offered his hands to the two Doctors. One took it. The other walked past him, straight into the TARDIS.

'Bingo!' he said to the one shaking his hand, showing him inside.

They walked in, looking around, not as amazed as the Doctor had hoped. He reminded himself that one of them was a companion, and so knew exactly what the TARDIS was. The other was a Sycorax, however, and that one seemed to be looking around, watching the spinning cogs of the central pillar, observing the twisting, shining lights.

It is a beautiful room, after all.

The Doctor told them all to hang on to something, and set off again. The TARDIS rattled and spun, throwing them around, before stopped dead all of a sudden - it fell quiet.

'I've missed that noise,' one of the Doctors said wistfully. He smiled, then looked to the Doctor, noticing his gaze. 'I'm allowed to miss the TARDIS, Doctor.'

'Who wouldn't?' he smiled. He felt like he was starting to win them over.

He took the two Doctors aside, leaving Miles to look at the monitors. Miles stepped over, glancing at them as they drew up the plan or whatever, and viewed what was going on outside.

Guards had assembled, and were readying to blow the doors open. He didn't have a chance to shout to the Doctor when they set of the explosives, but it didn't matter. The doors didn't budge. Miles barely heard the noise from inside.

'They won't even knock it,' the Doctor said, walking over. All three of them, all in unison, stepped towards the doors, took a breath, and pushed them forwards.

Thirty guard, all dressed in black, almost identical to Miles, raised their guns and had them prepared to fire.

Not one of the Doctors flinched.

Miles wasn't sure which one was the real Doctor anymore.

This was clever.

'We're here to see Seripho,' all three of them said in unison. They all had a little bounce to them, rocking on their heels. It was impressive to watch.

'Bring 'em up,' Miles heard coming through the apparent leading guard's walkie-talkie (yes, they still had them).

The guards surrounded the three Doctors and Miles and lead them out of the small room they had landed in, into a lab two doors down a corridor.

It was huge, pristine white with a strong smell of disinfectant. Three large wall-mounted pods were opposite, and in the one on the left stood Seripho, smiling.

'You made it,'

'Wouldn't miss it,' one Doctor said.

'Like the pod,' another said.

'Very Star-Trek,' said the third.

Seripho frowned. He hadn't expected this. 'Well this is an odd development. didn't think you'd bring them, your... counterparts.'

All three shrugged. 'You've been very apt at predicting us,' said one.

'It's scary,' said another.

'But I guess it gives us an edge,' said the third.

'Which lead into our next question...'

'What's in the other two pods?'

'Or who?'

Seripho seemed to have trouble keeping up, but he smiled and, rather graciously, called for all four of them to move forwards. Miles had his hand on his gun, just in case. He knew the Doctors wouldn't approve, but there you go.

'Better question,' Seripho said. 'What do the pods do.'

He started unbuttoning his leather jacket that covered him neck to foot, at which point everyone started to feel a little uncomfortable.

However, once he had revealed his collar, it started to become clear - his entire body from the neck downwards was stripped of flesh, hanging off him like shredded cloth. Gore and blood and bone, all mangled in his torso, all making Miles question how the hell he was even still alive.

Seripho smiled as the pod closed around him, shutting him away.


	8. Chapter 8: Tess

Miles watched as all three Doctors moved forwards, all with a gangly step and an off-center lean. They weren't just copying the Doctor, surely? They couldn't be. It was too perfect.

He followed them to the pod, as all three inspected it. No sound came from inside, but as one of them tapped on the misty glass, there was a tap back. Seripho was alive and awake in there.

A different Doctor looked to the rest of the room. All of the guards still had their guns armed on them, shielding away the lab-workers all around. Messing.

Miles watched as one of the women in white-coats pushed a big, green button. 'Is that a good button?' Miles asked no one in particular as a whirring sound began.

'I'm guessing no,' said one Doctor.

The pod started to glow slightly, the glass gleaming bright. As did the one next to it.

A scream.

All the Doctors quickly started inspecting the pod, one with their sonic screwdriver, one with a magnifying glass, and one with some device that resembled a hearing aid. They buzzed around the mean as it whirred, anxiously jumping each time Seripho screamed from inside.

'There's no way in,' said a woman with long, fine white hair. She was young, in her body at least. But Miles could feel something old about her. 'No way out, either, until that girl there pushes that green button again.'

'Then you push it,' said one of the Doctors to the woman. The worker didn't seem to notice.

'Who are you?' asked another.

'I'm the one who manufactured the micro-organisms that created two of you, Doctors.'

'It was you?'

'Strange, though, don't you think?' She stepped forwards, past the guards. 'How the mighty Doctor can create unrivalled fear in both his enemies and his friends, and then they come running when he calls. Fascinating.'

'Why did you do it and how do we stop it?'

'Oh those two boring questions,' she waved the question aside. 'More interestingly, how did you not notice? I mean, from what the big man in the pod has told me, you've met Adam, back in the Institute. I gave a technology addict nanogenes so he could create his own little hell. That was me. Seripho's the master's gun, I'm the master's big noggin.'

'Master?'

'Don't worry, not that one. Oh, yeah, we know all about Master Master, the TimeLord's second-greatest failure. After you.'

'Then who?'

'No idea. I've never met them. Seripho never calls it the 'master', that's my nickname. We weren't even given a name to mutter under our breath. Just an order and a death-threat.'

'You're being kept here against your will?'

'To start with, yes,' she said, nodding to the guards. 'Seripho has his fingers in deep with the whole Pyrman corp thing. Had me rip apart this world with an accelerated nano-gene virus.'

'You used nano-genes.'

'Like I said, how did you not notice?'

All three Doctors were talking interchangeably now, and Miles had lost track of who he thought was whom.

'Anyway, once Seripho made it clear to me how much power he had, being able to time-jump and all, I figured that, in the name of science, I had better just enjoy myself. Made things a whole lot easier.'

'You murdered a world,' Miles jump in.

'And how many has he killed?' She looked at Miles with piercing eyes, breaking through any illusions he had about the Doctor. 'He's a monster. Look at all the people he's frightened.'

'I try to help,' said all three Doctors.

'Wow, that's some pretty impressive mimicery, eh Doc?'

'What's the end-game?' Miles aksed. 'Why destroy a world, why this one, what's the point?'

'Well, as you know, Doctors, Seripho has been picking apart the human being in many different ways. Biologically. Mentally. Emotionally. Different experiments, collections of data, all over the universe. This world is the last one - to see if it works across different species.'

'You made a disease that creates a million genetically unique creatures, to run an experiment,' one Doctor said with disgust.

'Yes I did. All the variations we could ever need of human genealogy. We take a few, see if our machine works, and then we kill them. Ended programming the nano-genes to die after a few days, unless of course they ended up as you, Doc. Seripho was very particular about that.'

'Why?' the Doctors all asked.

'Because he needs you. One of you, at least. You are a catalyst.'

'For what?'

'No idea,' she shrugged. 'Once Seripho is done in there, I get a free ride off to Heldicon Six, with a heafty paycheck. I'm out, in...' she checked her watch. 'Three... two... one, and...!'

The pod stopped whirring.

'What is it, what did they do to him?' Miles asked.

The pod opened, sliding apart to present Seripho, grinning. 'They rebuilt me, boy.' He opened his jacket, showing his unscarred, white skin. Perfect.

'Reconstruction is, for extents and purposes, pretty simple,' the woman stated. 'The real test is pure construction.'

'Push the button, Tess,' Seripho ordered.

Tess, she was called, moved a slider to the left, and pushed the button again.

'What are you doing, what's in there?' Miles yelled as the other pod started whirring, glowing brighter than Seripho's had.

'Pure construction,' the Doctor said. 'They're making a human body.'

'But I thought cloning was easy,' Miles said.

'From biological DNA, yes,' Tess said. 'We're building a body based on mental processes. Thought, trapped in a program, ready for us to build it a body.'

'That's why you needed the tests into human biology. Biology is simple, it's just science, but you were looking for the relationship-' started a Doctor.

'Between the body and the mind,' finished a second.

'And we found it!' Seripho chuckled, watching as the light intensified. A scream brewed, releasing under the heat of the machine, burning out. A scream the Doctor knew.


	9. Chapter 9: Basically

The scream grew, howling until the hairs on the back of Miles' neck stood to attention. It was harrowing, scratching on the inside of his head. Clawing away.

'What mind?' asked a Doctor. 'Whose mind is it? Why are they so important, why would you save them, go to all this trouble to build a body for them?'

'She promised me a body,' Seripho said. 'When the planet exploded, she said she could save me. Save us both.'

'She?'

Seripho tapped an earpiece he had, tucked away in his ear. 'She talks to me. How do you think we communicate? Originally it was just 'it', but now... now she tells me she feels herself becoming true.'

The Doctor with the sonic screwdriver pointed it at Seripho's ear, making the sound explode in the room.

The first thing any of them recognised was the voice. That Dalek screech. The anger and the rage. But it was laughing. The Dalek's laughter was thrown across the room.

'Who are you?' he asked, calling out, knowing 'she' could hear him.

'She won't reply, Doctor,' Tess said. 'Right now, the nanogenes are re-creating her nervous system. That takes some doing, so she's kind of busy.'

'You made her vocal chords before her nerves?' Miles asked.

'Start at the middle and work outwards, daddy always said. Some of them were doing the vocal chords, others doing the nerves, some organs, veins, arteries, spine. We do the vocal chords so we can hear when the nerves kick in, when they start screaming.'

One of the Doctors turned away from the pod, staring at Seripho accusingly. 'What did you mean 'planet exploded', what planet. What were you doing?'

Seripho smiled. Time to tell. 'I was a scavenger, Doctors. Picking up spare parts as they float around in orbit of planets. Scum. Then I went to the Dalek Asylum, and I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The place blew, my ship was half-trashed, and my body was ripped open. I had enough spare parts on the ship to keep myself alive, but I was losing oxygen, when a voice came over my speakers. It was confused and scared. And Dalek. Dalek's don't get scared, Doctor.'

'We know.'

'It gave me instructions, on how to fix the ship.' Seripho smiled. 'I owe her. She gave me life, a body, a plan. I gave her the body she'd lost back.'

'Oh! Oooooooh!' Tess bounced, then grinned and picked up a pad, smiling at the three Doctors. 'Lets clear this whole mess up, eh?' She moved her hand, and the nanogenes seemed to react. 'These hyper-nano-genes have been programmed to invade your bodies, change your genealogies, so...' She threw them towards the three Doctors. 'I can change you back.'

The three Doctors were encased in light, a burning yellow case. It poured through them, changing back what they'd done. Reversing the virus.

'Take those two away,' the Doctor heard Tess say. He didn't even get to see them as they were dragged away - the light had still encased.

'How fascinating, Doctor,' Tess said, walking up to him as the light faded. 'The little buggers are confused by you. They remember infecting you, identifying your greatest fear and changing you into it, and yet there is no change.'

The Doctor smiled, his shoulders hanging low. 'What now?'

'Well, we both know you know who's inside there, waiting to come out.'

'You took a soul and built it a body, that'd take-'

'A screaming genius.'

The room stopped. Everyone looked up, to the speakers around the room. 'That was...' Seripho said, having the truth dawn on him.

The pod cracked open, pathing the way for a weak, sweating, nude Clara to stagger out.

'But that's...!' Seripho seemed unable to take it in. 'How can that be her?'

'Who is it?' Tess asked.

'That's Clara Oswald.'

She swallowed, smiled, readying for her first words in a long time. 'That's Oswin Oswald.'

Her legs gave out under her, and the Doctor and Seripho both leapt forwards, helping her up.

'What do you feel?' Tess asked her, handing her a long jacket that covered her.

'Alive,' she said. 'So long, in that metal form. God, I hate binary. Dalek technology is so backwards.'

'But how can you be alive?' The Doctor looked at her, squinting. 'I watched you die, back at the Asylum. The planet exploded.'

'The Dalek shell I was in, once you made me realise I was part of the technology, I created a program that would save my personality.'

'You downloaded your soul into a computer.'

'But you're a murderer,' Seripho said. 'You pushed me to kill and we started this virus, we've got blood on our hands. And you travel with this guy?'

Oswin smiled. 'I'm not Clara,' she said. 'I mean, I am, but I'm not. You see Doctor, when I was downloaded, something must have slipped. Somewhere in the code, I was unlocked. And I saw forever in your eyes.'

'Who are you?' the Doctor asked.

'I am Clara. And Oswin. The girl in London? That was me. The girl Seripho shot? I remember. I remember everything.' She slowed, thinking. 'But it's not time yet. You haven't learned yet.'

'Learned what?'

'Who I am. What I am to you, Doctor. I can't tell you, not until you know what happens. What I am.'

The Doctor was confused. Frankly, everyone was.

Miles was cock-headed, trying to wrap his head around this. 'So you're a companion, but you're not.'

'Basically,' Oswin said, smirking.

'Where do I go?' the Doctor asked. 'What are you.'

'It'll present itself,' Oswin said. 'Now, I have two orders. One, Tess, you will reverse the virus, and set them to heal and recover the dead bodies. Everyone will survive.'

'You still talk like a Dalek,' the Doctor noted.

'I am not yet human,' she said. 'You are a catalyst, Doctor. You will break the barrier between my Dalek-inspired body and the human mind waiting inside. But not yet. I'm using whatever humanity I have within me to save this world, but they should get out.' Oswin looked at Tess. 'Time tells us that Earth II falls, and this is the day it does. Get everyone off. This Pyrman Corp is just a front, tell people the company went under and to take their business elsewhere. Free shipping of colonies to New Earth. Take people away.'

'Nobody has to die,' the Doctor smiled. 'I think there's more Clara in you than you know.'

'Once you have seen my birth, and the reason for all you have been so confused about, then you come. You see I have one last lesson to teach you Doctor.'

'Ah yes. Consequences of my actions.'

Oswin smiled. 'Not quite.'

She took Seripho's arm and hit his teleport, leaving the Doctor alone in the room with Tess and Miles, who were both completely lost for words.

'Well you heard her,' the Doctor said. 'Get everyone out. Now!' he yelled. Tess started tapping her pad, organising things. Getting the hyper-nano-genes to fix the population.

'Right.. well... I'll be off.' The Doctor walked out, back towards his TARDIS, with Miles hot on his tail.

'Where are you going?'

'To visit a friend, have some adventures. Whatever happened here, it's not over,' he said. 'But apparently we have to wait for things to fall into place first. The slow road.'

Miles nodded, and offered his hand. 'Thank you Doctor.'

'Oh, don't do that,' he shrugged. Miles grabbed him and hugged him.

'Thank you. You saved my world.'

They released, and the Doctor was smiling like an idiot. 'Oh Miles, you'll make me blush!'

'I'll keep Tess in check, make sure she does everything right. I hear she's scared of guns.'

'Well, yes. No. No guns. Talking's better. We like talking.'

'If you say so, Doc.' Miles turns to leave, but calls the Doctor back. 'Doctor?'

'Yeah?'

'Who was she?'

The Doctor smiled to himself. 'I have no idea. But I think I'm closer to finding out.'


End file.
